The Mushroom Press Design Blog

The Dwarf Slayer

For those of you unfamiliar with the Warhammer fantasy Dwarven slayer, check ‘em out! 

I always add these guys (and the Dwarven book of grudges) to every game I run. For my BECMI / ACKS game, here are their rules: 

-Any dwarf vaultguard who becomes tremendously shamed, or who accrues debt beyond their ability to repay, may join the slayers to redeem themselves through glorious death.

-They foreswear the use of armor (they are trying to die, after all)

-They spike their hair with hog fat, getting rad orange/red mohawks

-They receive grudge tattoos from a craftpriest. These magic markings help them to survive until they can find a glorious death. Mechanically, if they lose their last HP to an attack from a creature with less HD than their level, they save VS death. If they succeed, they immediately gain 1D4 HP and continue fighting!

-They take the Slayer’s Oath, a mystical Dwarven oathspell which protects their hearts and minds from harm. If they should fail a save which mystically enslaves or beguiles their mind, they may give themselves over to rage and enter a berserk fury for 2D4 turns, ignoring any urgings save their desire to destroy to revenge their shame.

-A slayer always gives away all of the gold they earn or any share of the treasure they would keep, save for a pittance for food and meagre supplies. This “wasted” gold is banked towards the (inevitable) replacement character that will step into the slayer’s shoes when they find their glorious death.

Also, time for some more random ACKS of violence!